Make Significant Changes in Oil Well Safety Procedures & Reparations

Last summer's debacle in the Gulf of Mexico is not yet over. New oil is seeping from that same site and, once again, BP is attempting to deny it all, even when scientists show that the new oil's fingerprint exactly matches that of the Deepwater Horizon oil. We propose that Congress implement the following changes: With the clear understanding that removing a natural resource for personal/corporate profit is decidedly a privilege and not a right, we call upon Congress to impose the following procedures and processes on ANY oil drilling, (and especially those occurring under water):

1 There shall be frequent independent monitoring of all activities, operations and well sites (including those supposedly capped off.) 2 Oil companies shall have no involvement, direct or indirect, in the clean-up operations or oversight, but shall provide complete cooperation and compliance. 3 The responsible oil company shall bear all costs of inspection and clean-up, and shall not be allowed to employ tax credits to do so. If the company's responsibility is greater than its assets, each other oil company with operations in the U.S. shall bear a proportionate portion of the costs of cleanup, and no further operations will be allowed by a company until that company's portion is paid. (This will push them to police themselves as well.)4 Any time any operation is determined by investigators/monitors to be deficient or presenting unacceptable risks, that operation shall be halted immediately, and immediate appropriate steps taken to alleviate the potential damage to personnel and the environment.5 The purpose of these collective actions is to eliminate any threat or harm from the harvesting of oil from the planet. This is the single highest priority. All other considerations shall take a lesser position beneath that goal. If oil cannot be gotten without damage, then permission to attempt to gain that oil shall be withheld immediately and until such time that convincing evidence is presented that a solution to that danger has been found.

We appreciate your service, but must insist that you take these requirements seriously. To date, protecting our oceans seems mostly lip service. Please, make these changes happen.